Typography

Share This

Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers at Rutgers University say exposure to DDT, banned in the United States since 1972 but still used as a pesticide in other countries, may also increase the risk and severity of Alzheimer's disease in some people, particularly those over the age of 60.

Scientists
have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful
to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers at Rutgers
University say exposure to DDT, banned in the United States since 1972 but
still used as a pesticide in other countries, may also increase the risk and
severity of Alzheimer's disease in some people, particularly those over the age
of 60.

!ADVERTISEMENT!

In a
study published online today in JAMA Neurology, Rutgers scientists discuss
their findings in which levels of DDE, the chemical compound left when DDT
breaks down, were higher in the blood of late-onset Alzheimer's disease
patients compared to those without the disease.

DDT â€“
used in the United States for insect control in crops and livestock and to
combat insect-borne diseases like malaria â€“ was introduced as a pesticide
during WWII. Rutgers scientists â€“ the first to link a specific chemical
compound to Alzheimer's disease â€“ believe that research into how DDT and DDE
may trigger neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's, is crucial.

"I think
these results demonstrate that more attention should be focused on potential
environmental contributors and their interaction with genetic susceptibility,"
says Jason R. Richardson, associate professor in the Department of
Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and
a member of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
(EOHSI). "Our data may help identify those that are at risk for Alzheimerâ€™s
disease and could potentially lead to earlier diagnosis and an improved outcome."

Although
the levels of DDT and DDE have decreased significantly in the United States
over the last three decades, the toxic pesticide is still found in 75 to 80
percent of the blood samples collected from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention for a national health and nutrition survey. This occurs,
scientists say, because the chemical can take decades to breakdown in the
environment. In addition, people may be exposed to the pesticide by
consuming imported fruits, vegetables and grains where DDT is still being used
and eating fish from contaminated waterways.

In the
Rutgers study, conducted in coordination with Emory University Alzheimer's
Disease Research Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Schoolâ€™s Alzheimer's Disease Center, 74 out of the 86 Alzheimer's patients
involved â€“ whose average age was 74 â€“ had DDE blood levels almost four times
higher than the 79 people in the control group who did not have Alzheimer's
disease.